CH 231

“What happened today?”

“I don’t know? Why?”

“No, why are the NPCs constantly moving…? The knights and soldiers.”

“Isn’t it just a subjugation quest?”

“If it’s a subjugation quest, they should go to the Sentinel Mountains. They are fully armed and headed southwest.”

“I guess there are monsters out there too. What do we know, let’s go level up.”

The atmosphere in Aelstock, began to change. Most of the normal users could not get information, but they had also sensed that something was different from usual.

‘Is there about a week left?’

Leeha wandered around the capital with hazy eyes. .For three weeks, he only clung to achievements.

In the real world, he only slept for 8 hours within 4 days. It meant he was connected for 3 days and 16 hours.

‘It was originally like that. That’s what sniping is like. Even the seniors said it was standard to wait a week.’

A sniper is someone who snipes by laying down, poops, pees, and waits for the target.

A ruler who ends the war? The flower of the battlefield? Reaper?

There was even a joke that all those cool nicknames were to cover the smell of shit.

‘Well, it’s not even a week. No, actually, it’s the 4th day, but my brain had been running for three weeks-’

He now felt his thought staggering.

Despeite this situation, Leeha’s obsession with achievements did not weaken.

As the grade went down, it was getting harder and harder, but there was a time limit so he had to hurry.

‘It was still fine until C- rank.’

However, as he got to D rank, the stats that was given decreased, and the monsters that gave agility became rare.

In addtion, since it was near the hunting grounds of a large number of users, it became difficult to get the “One shot, one kill” achievement.

‘It meanst that if even one of those leveling hit the target, I will not get the one hit one kill achievement.’

The achievement will only appear if you literally reduce all of the target’s health in one shot.

“Come on, fifty-”

“Vodka Martini, shaken, not stirred. Guide me quick-heee.”

Leeha almost dozed off, as he entered Holy Grill Capital Branch. The waitress was taken aback for a moment, but took Leeha to Madame Ju.

“Long time no see? Don’t you look very tired?”

“I am not tired. I haven’t slept for days…”

Leeha sat down, and Ju brought tea. It was peppermint with a tangy scent.

“Enough sleep is essential. Because the most important thing to live in Middle Earth is health. In particular, foreigners should get adequate rest. If you don’t sleep, your brain will be stressed and you will be stressed, which is directly related to the deterioration of health-”

“Hmm. Don’t worry.”

Even if she didn’t explain it like a game company’s guide, Leeha was fully aware of it.

Leeha swallowed back the words and tea and asked Madame Ju.

“Do you know the time of the war…?”

“I think it will be ten days from now.” There’s a huge amount of information required everyday in the royal palace, so you can guess.”

“Keu, as expected of Madame Ju. That’s right Anyway, I’m here to tell you that. It’s information from the Sacred Knights, so it is trustworthy. Exactly seven days later, the declaration of war will proceed.”

Leeha told Madame Ju the information he received from Shin Nara.

After all, NPCs like the king and Madame Ju will know about this anyway, so he could gain favor by using it like this.

“7 days. The person who gets such information from the Sacred Knights-”

“-Shhh. Pretend that you don’t know.”

Leeha winked at Madame Ju.

Zhu also noticed that this information came from Shin Nara. She smiled contentedly.

“You wouldn’t have said anything for nothing……. If you look at where Leeha-nim is, you must have come to ask something else, right?”

“Did you think I came here for tea?” 

Madame Ju looked at Leeha’s stats

If there was one thing that had changed significantly from the last time, it was the overwhelming increase in agility. Based on the data, the NPC already noticed Leeha’s intention.

“You want to know the location of monsters that increase agility the most?”

Leeha nodded at Madame Ju’s words, and shook it again. She already knew. That wasn’t the only reason he looked for Madame Ju.

“Well, on top of that, if possible-”

It was another condition that Leeha believed must be met before the start of the war. 

After hearing Leeha’s explanation, Madame Ju immediately pointed to the map of Fibiel.

***

Hoooot….. Hooot…..

“I-isn’t it too scary?”

“That’s why you shouldn’t come at night.”

“Then what? It’s a monster that only appears at night!”

The only thing they heard in the forest was an unknown cry. One warrior, one archer, one wizard, and one healer.

The party of four moved slowly, and leaned on the torch. It wasn’t like the forest without light, but the forest at night was always dark.

Hooot… Hooot…

“After all, it’s a field boss. If it appears, the system window will open.”

“It it already appeared, you wouldn’t see it, would you?”

“Ah, right.”

The four users, who were in their 90s, came to catch the field boss that appeared in this forest. It was quite a bit lower than their level, but they couldn’t be vigilant enough.

“I can’t see.”

“Shall we use light magic?”

“No. We shouldn’t use it. They said that if the light is too strong, it would not approach.”

“Anyway, field bosses have a lot of conditions.”

Relying only on the dim moonlight and bare torches, the users continued walking throught the forest. The conversation they had was also greatly reduced.

The surrounding landscape continued to be forest, forest, forest.

It was an environment where it was difficult to properly understand where they were walking. At one point, all they could hear was the sound of their footsteps and breathing.

Silence that was close to stillness passed.

And although it seemed to fit best with the night forest, the thing that should never exist was stillness.

“……Isn’t it too quiet?”

“Come to think of it, I haven’t heard the cry that we have been hearing before-”

The magician tilted his head. The healer was about to answer.

“Oh, Oooh-! B-b-behind!!!!”

Something approached behind them. The archer knotched his bowstring.

He saw two jewels. They were clearly ‘eyes’ shining yellow under the light of the torch. They were the size of a human face.

Kyaaaack-!!”

“Shield cover! Hit it while I tank!”

The owl, as huge as a tree that had grown out of the forest, attacked from behind without flapping its wings. It was unbelievable quiet for its size.

The warrior quickly grabbed his shield and ran to the healer, but the owl’s claw had already scratched the healer’s back.

“Cast-!”

“Piercing Arrow!”

The magiciacn and the archer started their counterattacks one after another, but the arrow hit a wooden pole without touching its target-.

“Where did it go!? My casting is over!”

A colorless fireball floated into the air. The giant owl was already gone.

“Is she okay?”

The warrior took out a potion and poured a little into the healer’s back and put it in her mouth. The healer was only able to recover health by drinkig the potion.

“This! Isn’t this different from what you were talking about?! You said that you could hit it when it gets closer?”

“I don’t have much health…. I didn’t know it would attack by surprise.”

“What? Why was there no sound? A bird of that sound came near us, but why was there no sound?”

“By the way, it’s eyes were really big. Wahh, I’m afraid it would come out of my fucking dream. It was bigger than a stork.”

The archer, who was the first to discover the boss, admired it, but the healer who was attacked could not laugh.

The boss literally came and went without making a sound.

If the archer hadn’t reacted quickly, the giant owl would have taken her to its nest and devoured her.

“Once we carry a torch, it will come again. This time, let’s keep a close eye and catch it.”

“Yes. One of us looking at east, west, north, and south. Look above. We can’t just look in front of us and suddenly get hit from above-”

The warrior tilted his head as he gave the instructions.

“Didn’t you just say something?”

“I heard the sound of a branch breaking in the distance. Did you feel that pounding?”

“No.”

Ddak! Wasn’t that what you were saying?”

“Why does the sound matter! Look closely at the owl or owls flying!”

The party members bowed their heads as the healer screamed.

Protecting the healer was the top priority for both dealers and tanks, but she almost got killed by a surprise attack….

So the four party member wandered around the forest. Had they noticed that there was another person in the forest, everyone would have logged out and went to sleep.

***

[Achievement: One Shot, One Kill – Giant Owl(D)]

Congratulations! Instakilled the Giant Owl in one blow! Aren’t you ashamed of playing in the beginner zone at your level? Make way for the next generation! But you still need to receive a small gift for the achievement, right?!

Effect: Strength +1, Agility +6, Intelligence +1

“Why bother using the Hummingbird, when it’s one shot? Aigu, my back. Aigu, my back.”

Leeha stood on the corspse of the owl the size of a human. It was said that it would make a surprise attack without making a sound, and would still be unnoticeable when the big guy flew in.

‘Even though I didn’t have light, I still knew that it was near.’

He laid down face down in a place where even the moonlight did not properly shine. If Leeha had not used ‘Mana Clairvoyance’ at the right time, its sharp attack would have hit him.

“Phew, it’s because it is that good at night. Okay, this is the last one. I have to hurry up and go to sleep.”

After Leeha finished looting, he immediately ripped a scroll.

After a while, he arrived at Hell Anvil, at Bottleneck’s Blacksmith.

“Bo-ttle-Neck-Nim!”

It was midnight, but Leeha was unrelenting. He did not have time to think about the NPC’s circumstances right now. Because he thought he would die of sleep deprivation.

“What is it?!”

After a while, the door opened and Bottleneck appeared. Seeing Leeha’s figure, his beard shook! And unfolded.

“I’m going to order some items.”

“Again, you monster! In the middle of the night!”

“I’m not a monster. It’s good that Bottleneck-nim could study various materials because of me.”

Leeha heard him and went inside. Bottleneck didn’t even have the time to respond when Leeha took the items out of his bag.

“Now, I didn’t know what you were going to need, so is it okay that I brought all of them. [Giant Owl’s Pupil], [Golden Bat’s Cochlea], and [Silver-Bell Snake’s Forked Tongue]. It doesn’t matter if you use light, infrared, or ultrasound, so please make something that allows you to see in the dark.”

“W-what? What are you talking about-”

“Please make a Night Vision. I’m sleepy so I will only explain once. Bring me paper.”

He said with a yawn.

There wasn’t a single thing that Bottleneck liked, not to mention the weird material on the table, and Leeha attitude.

“If only I could get rid of you, I will get rid of all my beard.”

“Haha, 15 gold deposit, 35 gold after you succeed. I have brought more than the scope.”

“……I swear to the god of anvil. Even if I give up my beard, I will scold you one day.”

While the dwarf in pajamas said so, he chuckled and grabbed the money bag Leeha had put down.

The completion of Night Vision was Leeha’s final piece of the war preparations, that was approaching.